The new generation of submersibles often requires sophisticated tools to work effectively. One of the tasks frequently called for is the recovery of instrumentation or practice ordnance from the ocean floor. A number of the more advanced submersibles have articulable manipulators. These hand-like devices are controlled from inside the submersibles and are used to grasp objects of interest. In the past, the manipulators actually tied or wrapped recovery lines about objects or tried to attach some sort of a grapnel hook to them. Obviously, this attachment process often is quite involved and tedious. As the state of the art continued to advance a wide variety of clamps and tong-like devices for grasping an object have evolved. Those that were capable of supporting any appreciable amount of weight are unduly cumbersome and others relied on a relatively complicated actuation sequence calling for a number of hydraulic and electrical lines. Excessive weight and complicated actuators are luxuries which should be avoided by present day submersibles for ballast and trim usually are critical and too many hull penetraters can compromise the structural integrity of the craft. What is needed, therefore, is a compact recovery tool of sound mechanical design to assure high reliability and which has the capability of being positioned, removed and repositioned by the manipulator of an undersea craft. The recovery tool also should be of a design to allow interconnection to an object which has been provided with an opening specifically sized for engagement by the tool.